One of the Boys
by flyin'rabbit
Summary: Tony, having been homeschooled for years, is sent to Hogwarts for his final year. A bit uncertain at first, he fits in quickly and soon, he's one of the boys. Trouble, however, is never far away at Hogwarts... -Discontinued for now, sorry!-
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: Hello :) Thanks for reading this! I realise it may come off as a little odd at first (it's a bit odd to write too, as a matter of fact), but hopefully you'll enjoy it anyway!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the world of Harry Potter :(

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Everybody looked on as the new student walked in. It was too early for the Sorting of the first years, and this boy looked older than eleven anyway. The students all watched quietly as he walked towards the Staff table, exchanged a minute's worth of talk with Headmistress Sprout, and then turned around, facing them all. Upon noticing them all staring at him, he cowered a little, but the Headmistress saved him.

"Students," she said, standing up. All the chatter died down, for as far as it hadn't already. "I would like you to welcome Tony Philips. He will be taking his NEWTs this year and thus, his parents have requested for him to join us here." With a nod in the direction of the new student, Professor Sprout sat down again. The new student walked towards the Gryffindor table, apparently having been Sorted there already, and sat down hesitantly, a couple of seats away from everyone else.

Within seconds, the doors of the Great Hall flew open again, and the first years came in, effectively diverting the students' attention away from the new seventh year.

(_*_)

Watching the first years being called forward one by one, Tony was very grateful for this distraction. He hated being watched and he wasn't too fond of large crowds of people. He had rather stayed at home – he didn't see the point in coming here. His education wouldn't have been worse if his parents had kept teaching him.

But no, they wanted him to take real classes and interact with more people. Once this year was over, he would have to find a job and interact with people on a daily basis. He could do with some practice. Bullocks – he was doing just fine.

He managed to listen in to some of the conversations among the first years while still keeping a respectable distance. It might seem that he was afraid of people, but he wasn't. Honestly. He wasn't the most social type of person out there, but that didn't mean he was scared when faced with another person. He hadn't been Sorted into Gryffindor for nothing, he figured.

He was just… reserved. Yes, that had to be the right word. Everyone would be reserved if they had never been to a magical school before, after being homeschooled for the biggest part of their would-be secondary school career. It wasn't his fault. He was sure he'd come out of his shell eventually.

After eating as much as he possibly could, Tony looked around again. Some students were still stealing glances at him every now and then. A couple of boys down the Gryffindor table were whispering not very inconspicuously while eyeing him. He guessed that they were probably his dorm mates, by the looks of it. Smiling their way nervously, Tony wondered when this feast would end.

As if she was using Legilimency on him, Professor Sprout stood up. With a few more announcements, the students were sent to their common rooms. Loud noise followed these instructions and everybody in the Great Hall seemed to stand up at once. Tony gazed up at them. There had to be at least two, maybe three hundred students here. What a difference, compared to his lonely life at home.

Not that he was lonely at home – there were always the Muggle kids in his neighbourhood. But there were never three hundred people around him at once.

"Hello! You're Tony, right?" He looked up, startled. In front of him was a girl of about his age. She was smiling happily and Tony noticed that she was sporting Gryffindor colours.

"Yeah, that's me," he replied somewhat apprehensively. For some reason, girls had always made him slightly nervous.

"Hi," she said, greeting him for a second time. "I'm Marly, I'm the Head Girl. I'll guide you to the Gryffindor tower, alright?" She was still smiling at him, which was more than a little unnerving to Tony.

"Sure, that's fine with me," Tony replied. He didn't have another choice, really – although he _did_ wonder why he couldn't have just followed the Prefects towards the common room. He got up as well and followed Marly out of the Great Hall.

"So, what do you think of Hogwarts so far?" she asked him as soon as he caught up with her.

He shrugged. "I've been here for only half a day," he said. "I don't really know yet."

"It's a great school," she told him. "You'll love it, I'm sure." Tony certainly hoped so. "Why did your parents send you here only now?" she wanted to know. "Why didn't you just start here in your first year?"

Well. That was a good question. "They sent me here now because they thought the education here would be better than what they can offer me at home for my NEWTs." He was silent for a while, trying to come up with a good reason for his absence during the previous years. The fact that Marly kept looking at him didn't make that easier. "But… I don't know why they homeschooled me up until now. Maybe because it was possible. And now their knowledge had simply dried out."

Marly smiled widely. "Oh, okay. The people here are really nice, trust me. You'll fit in within days."

Tony just nodded, not knowing what to say to that. In the end, they made it to the common room, but there wasn't a second during which he felt comfortable. She kept on eyeing him in a way he couldn't quite decipher and he was glad, therefore, when she announced that they were there. He made sure that he heard the password to enter the common room correctly, and walked in after her.

She didn't give him time to be surprised at the sight, but just pulled him along as she made her way over to a group of students. Tony recognised some of them as the boys who had been whispering earlier, during dinner.

"Hey, guys," she greeted the group. "This is Tony, he's new."

One of the boys rolled his eyes. "Yes, Marly, we had gathered that much from Sprout." He turned to Tony. "You'd better ignore Marly, she's a little crazy at times." Now Marly rolled her eyes. Tony just nodded. If staring at him would become a habit of hers, he would indeed have to start practising ignoring her very soon.

"Maybe we should introduce ourselves!" another girl said suddenly, smiling as well. Tony had to wonder if this entire school was on happy pills. He hoped that they weren't. "Hi, Tony, I'm Flora. You know Marly, of course. This is Whitney, and Clara. And they are Roger, Zachary, Stan and Jeremiah."

Right. Tony could only hope that he would still remember all those names in the morning. He was sure that he had forgotten half of them already.

"We'll show you our dorm," one of the boys said, and Marly pouted.

"Are you going to bed already?" she asked. For the first time this evening, there was no smile on her face.

"Aren't you supposed to encourage that?" another girl asked. "You're Head Girl, after all."

"I guess…," Marly said, still sounding put out. "Oh well, we'll see you lot tomorrow then."

After everyone bade everyone a good night – it seemed that all the seventh years were good friends, which was quite a feat – they headed upstairs. While the other boys immediately made a beeline for their respective beds, Tony stood awkwardly for a moment. Then, he found his trunk standing at the foot of the only unoccupied bed.

As he walked over, the others scrambled up from their beds and moved towards the bathroom.

"Are you all using the bathroom at once?" Tony asked without realising it. He was surprised to learn this.

"Yeah, if that's necessary," one of his dorm mates – he was almost sure it was Stan – replied, shrugging. "Why?"

"He's probably used to having the bathroom all to himself," another boy answered before Tony had the chance to do so. The others laughed at this, and continued walking into the bathroom.

_Wouldn't they want a little more… privacy? _Tony thought to himself. He himself wouldn't say no to that. But obviously, none of these boys had anything they wanted to hide from the others. They could all use the bathroom at the same time.

As he searched through his stuff, Tony realised that he would have to get up and go to bed at odd times to avoid having to share the bathroom with his dorm mates. He frowned to himself. He hadn't given that any thought before coming here. Now, it would probably be one of the biggest challenges Hogwarts was going to have in store for him.

Having collected his stuff, he waited patiently for every boy to exit the bathroom. When he walked in there, he was almost blown away by all the stuff lying about – to think it was only the first day! Another something he would need to get used to. He could hear his dorm mates laugh and talk through the closed (and locked) door – most likely, they were talking about him. After all, he was new, and slightly weird already. He hoped that he wasn't too weird for them to hang out with. He'd worry about that in the morning, though. Now, he had more important stuff to do, like figuring out how to use this razor – just in case.

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**A/N**: So, what do you think so far? Was it good? Bad? Somewhere in between? If you have any questions or comments about the story so far, don't hesitate to leave a review! :)


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Tony woke up early. He had learned the night before that class usually started at nine in the morning, except for the times when there was a free period. So around seven o'clock, he shot out of bed, gathered his stuff and almost flew into the bathroom. If class started at nine, most people would go to breakfast around half past eight. Getting up at seven should give him plenty of privacy.

He hadn't noticed it last night, but there were, fortunately, separate showers. Very good. At least he wouldn't have to think of a quick escape plan if one of his dorm mates suddenly decided to have an early shower as well.

As he walked back into the dorm, all the other boys were still asleep. Almost as if it was planned, Tony felt himself become nauseous. The timing couldn't have been better. Probably his nerves, or so he hoped. Or maybe he'd eaten something foul the previous night. Either way, back into the bathroom he went.

When he was finally done, he walked downstairs. He didn't know his schedule yet, so it was rather useless to bring his books already. As if his morning couldn't get any worse, he heard someone call his name as he was about to exit the common room. He turned around obediently and smiled in a forced kind of way.

"Marly," he greeted her. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Tony," she chirped. "Did you sleep well? Did they ever leave you alone? Are they still asleep now?"

Not understanding how anyone could be this cheerful this early in the morning, Tony was caught off guard for a moment. "Uh – yeah, it was alright. They let me sleep. And – uh, I let them sleep as well."

To his surprise, she laughed. From what he'd gathered about the Head Girl's responsibilities, laughing was not something she should do when students were about to be late for breakfast and, subsequently, class. "That'll teach them," she said happily. "They're never on time. This year will be no different, no matter what they say."

Tony tried to laugh along, although he didn't really find it that funny. He wondered why she was up so early, but he decided not to ask about it. As proven before, girls made him nervous.

"So are you excited for classes to start?" she asked him, grinning from ear to ear. Just like the night before, she kept eyeing him the entire time.

"Yeah, sure," Tony said, shrugging. Classes were the only thing he was here for, in a way – a good education had been the most important factor for his parents to send him to Hogwarts.

Marly smiled. "I hope we have a lot of classes together," she informed him. "It'll be so much fun!"

Fun was not how Tony would describe that situation, but he kept his mouth shut. Maybe she would too, then.

When they arrived in the Great Hall, breakfast had barely started. Only a handful of students were there, so there were still lots of options for finding a seat. Marly, however, didn't seem to think so – she sat down right beside Tony. As he looked sideways, slightly disturbed by her entering his personal space, she just gave him another smile.

Suddenly, there was a loud cough from beside them. A blond boy was standing there, looking rather displeased by their seating arrangements.

"Oh – hi, Lorcan," Marly greeted him, seeming a bit disturbed by his interruption. "What's going on?"

He sent a charming smile her way, and sat down at the Gryffindor table, even though he was wearing a Ravenclaw tie. "Hey, Marly. Nothing much is going on." He then turned to Tony. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Tony, he's new," Marly chirped, placing a hand on Tony's arm. "Tony, meet Lorcan. He's a Ravenclaw in our year."

As she introduced him as such, Lorcan's mouth became thinner and thinner. "Pleased to meet you?" Tony said in an attempt to lighten the mood somewhat. Lorcan only nodded curtly before standing up and walking away.

"Idiot," Marly muttered once he was out of earshot. "He's always acting so strangely…"

Tony just nodded. There wasn't much else he could do.

Marly kept talking to him, though he barely registered anything she said. All of a sudden, she jumped up. "I completely forgot, I was supposed to report at the Headmistress' office this morning! I'll see you later, alright?" Tony only had time to nod before she stormed away.

He wondered why she remembered that only now. Maybe she had wanted to make sure he got to the Great Hall without getting lost, but didn't keep track of the time? He looked around the Great Hall again. Most people who were there didn't pay any attention to him; maybe they had forgotten all about him being new already. Surprisingly enough, he found Lorcan glaring at him from the Ravenclaw table. He was talking to a boy who seemed to look exactly like him.

Tony didn't have the time to think about this strange occurrence because at that moment, his fellow seventh year Gryffindors (all of them (except for Marly, of course)) sat down around him.

"Couldn't you wake us?" the boy Tony thought was called Stan asked sleepily.

"I could, but I didn't," Tony replied, and regretted it immediately. He hardly knew these boys; who knew what they were like. To his relief, they started laughing. Loudly. The girls just giggled along.

"Wake us up tomorrow, would you?" another boy asked.

"And the days after that," another added quickly.

"But not in the weekends," the last one instructed him strictly.

Tony grinned. "Got it."

His parents had urged him to take all the OWLs he could possibly take, and they had continued teaching him in the subjects he had got an OWL in. Upon seeing his schedule, though, Tony regretted picking eight classes; all the others hadn't picked more than six.

"You should've been put in Ravenclaw," Stan commented as he looked at Tony's schedule. "Take a look at all those classes!"

Tony just rolled his eyes and snatched his schedule away from the others, which they didn't mind. Another reason why boys were much better to hang out with – girls never let things slip so easily, not in Tony's experience at least.

After returning to the Gryffindor Tower to fetch their books, they walked towards their first class of the day – Transfiguration. Jeremiah, who reintroduced himself to Tony first, explained the easiest ways of getting from one side of the castle to the other. That wasn't very easy – there were so many hallways, stairs and classrooms, and Tony was certain that he was going to get lost.

As he voiced his concern to the others, someone said from behind, "Oh, you don't need to worry. I'll walk you!"

It appeared that Marly had returned from her appointment with the Headmistress. Tony smiled unhappily. If anything, more time alone with Marly was much more worrying than the idea of potentially getting lost. "Okay," he said eventually, "thanks."

She didn't notice his unhappiness, for she acted as cheerful as ever. By the time all of them were seated, the Professor walked in. Tony had somehow managed to find a seat in between two of his dorm mates (the two he kept forgetting the names of), and Marly didn't seem very happy about this.

"Good morning class," he said, and some of the students muttered a reply. They all seemed to know him already, and he seemed to know all of them. Without any further ado, the lesson started and Tony understood directly why his parents sent him here now. This was much harder than anything they had ever taught him.

After Transfiguration, Tony had Ancient Runes. None of the others took this class, but as she had announced before, Marly gladly showed him the way. One of her friends came along as well, and the entire way, they kept talking about boys and about their hair. Tony wondered whether they ever got tired of that – probably not, by the sound of it.

Ancient Runes was interesting, and with that, Tony didn't just mean the subject itself. As soon as he sat down somewhere in the middle of the class, he heard the two seats behind him being taken. He didn't have to turn around to find out who it was – Lorcan and his clone started talking immediately. Well, not the clone, especially Lorcan. About him, Tony. How nice.

"He's such a weirdo," Lorcan commented, snorting. "I mean, look at him. He's ridiculous."

"Hmhm," the clone just said.

"I bet he feels very special," Lorcan continued. "Starting here in his last year. He must feel very lucky. Getting all the attention, from everybody. Typical Gryffindor behaviour."

"Since when do you have anything against Gryffindors?" the clone asked, clearly surprised at Lorcan's sudden outburst.

"I don't," Lorcan quickly told him. "I just don't like such behaviour. As long as Gryffindors act like normal humans, it's cool. But this one… I just know he's going to want to be different. He's going to cause some trouble here."

"You know, I'm fairly sure he can hear us," the clone said, and Tony rolled his eyes. Had it really taken them that long to figure that out? He thought Ravenclaws were supposed to be smart. Either way, he couldn't quite figure out what these two had against him. They didn't even know him. Tony didn't know whether this should worry him, or if he just shouldn't pay them too much attention.

"And?" Lorcan asked impatiently. "Like I care." At that moment, class started, and the two boys shut up. Fortunately.

Ancient Runes was followed by lunch, where Tony learnt the names of the other two boys in his dorm. He listened to them talking about their holidays, even though Marly was trying her best to engage him in conversation as well. When that didn't work, she chatted with her friends instead. About… girl stuff. Tony didn't understand why she thought he liked talking about that.

There were two more classes, dinner and some time spent in the library, but then, Tony's first day at Hogwarts was over. And what a day it had been. He knew for sure that, if all the days were going to be like this, he would be dead before the year ended.

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**A/N**: So, what do you think? :) Was it good, bad, somewhere in between? Let me know, please review!


	3. Chapter 3

"You know, you're quite short for a seventeen year old bloke."

After a couple of weeks, Tony wasn't much of a novelty anymore. Instead of commenting on the fact that he was new or asking him questions, people started noticing other things. One of them being his lack of length. True, he was the shorter than all of his room mates, but he wasn't _that_ small.

Of course, certain people still liked to point it out to him. Constantly. Lorcan, especially, told him this multiple times a week – sometimes even several times a day. Tony had already figured out that he only did this when Marly was around as well. Not completely oblivious himself, Tony found this to be rather annoying.

As he was once again called out about this, Tony just rolled his eyes. The other students just dispersed and soon, they were the only two left in the hallway.

"You know, you have nothing to be jealous of," Tony countered, and Lorcan looked taken aback.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said quickly.

"Sure you don't," Tony muttered. "So you would be absolutely okay with it if I were to ask out Marly?"

Just like when they'd first met, Lorcan's lips thinned. "You wouldn't."

Tony shrugged. "You're right, I wouldn't. So you have nothing to be jealous of." With that, he turned around and walked away.

That evening, Stan told him, "It's true though. You are short."

"My dad's not the tallest as well. It's in my genes," Tony explained, and his roommates nodded in understanding.

"Just like how it's in my genes to be this handsome," Jeremiah joked. The other four groaned.

"Keep telling yourself that," Tony told him from across the room as he made his way towards the bathroom. He was glad that he had managed to blend in so well. It was almost as if he had been here forever. Sure, he didn't get certain inside jokes, but he was always quickly filled in about those.

As Tony attempted to get the hair gel out of his hair without getting completely wet, Roger came into the bathroom as well. While observing Tony somewhat curiously, he asked, "And what about Marly, eh? She seems to like you a whole lot."

Tony had noticed that as well. She was starting to become slightly unbearable around him, always the first to talk to him, to laugh as he said something, and always the one who never seemed to want to leave him alone. It was slightly problematic; girls, in Tony's opinion, were horribly complex. He never knew how to behave around them.

"She's not my type," he responded to Roger's question, and Roger's eyes widened.

"Seriously?" he asked.

From their dorm, Stan shouted, "She's _everyone's_ type!"

Tony rolled his eyes. "Well, she not _my_ type."

"Are you planning on telling her anytime soon?" Roger asked. "It's only fair."

"Who knows," Tony muttered. For some reason, he didn't think confronting Marly about this was a very good idea. Perhaps she would get over it. He certainly hoped she would.

"Or you could date her anyway," Jeremiah commented, popping his head into the bathroom. "She's a pretty girl, she likes you… why wouldn't you date her?"

"I don't like her like that," Tony said curtly. He didn't want to do that to her; it just seemed wrong.

"You would certainly annoy the heck out of that stupid Ravenclaw," Roger said happily.

Tony rolled his eyes. "I know. I'm still not asking her out." Just because she liked him, that didn't mean that he should ask her out, right? That was even less fair than not telling her he didn't like her.

Scratching his head, he walked back into the dorm. Zachary was finishing some essay, but the others were lying lazily on their beds. Maybe Hogwarts wasn't so bad after all.

The next day, Marly had an announcement for all of them at breakfast. "Apparently, they want us to work together more," she said, munching on some toast. "We'll be getting more group assignments from now on."

Stan frowned at this. "Just us seventh years, or everyone?"

"Everyone," Marly replied, "but especially us, since we're just about to enter the real world where we'll have to work together all the time."

"What kind of assignments are we talking about here?" Roger asked inquisitively.

"Normal assignments, as far as I know. Nothing too outrageous." The group of boys smiled, relieved that they wouldn't have to do all sorts of weird stuff all of a sudden.

In their first class, Transfiguration, this new measure was brought into practice immediately. The people from the other Houses hadn't heard of the group assignments yet, so it came as quite a surprise to them. With a warning that they would probably be paired up by the Professors later on in the year, they were now allowed to pick their own partners.

Tony, fearing the worst when his dorm mates divided into pairs among the four of them, just stayed in his seat, staring at the front. He didn't think he would survive an assignment in pairs if Marly became his partner. He was aware that he sounded quite desperate, but he _was_ desperate. She was everywhere already. It was almost unhealthy.

"Marly, fancy being partners?" Tony was saved, of all people, by Lorcan. He didn't dare look around just yet.

He heard her splutter something – she obviously had something else in mind. "I was – actually – "

She must've been pointing at him, for Lorcan said, "Someone else will work with _him_." He said something else, but Tony didn't hear what it was.

Trying to appear very interested in what was in his book, he ignored the talking of the groups around him. That was, until someone sat down at the desk in front of him, facing him. As he looked up, he was met by a face that, he imagined, mirrored his. Absolute boredom and annoyance; neither of them was too happy with this assignment.

"There's nobody else left," Lorcan's clone informed him, sounding a little resigned. "I'm Lysander, by the way."

Tony blinked. "Oh, alright. I'm Tony," he introduced himself.

There was an awkward silence in which both of them looked around to see what everyone else was doing. Most groups were just exchanging small talk, and only then did Tony realise that they hadn't been given an assignment yet. He looked back at Lysander and shrugged helplessly.

"Do you have any idea what we're supposed to do?"

Lysander shook his head. "No, not really." He studied Tony for a second and asked, "Why did you come to Hogwarts this year?"

Unsure whether or not that was supposed to be a normal question or something ruder, Tony just replied, "My parents." This seemed to be enough; Lysander nodded.

Not too long after that, they were told to pay attention once again. "This should be a fairly easy task for all of you," the Professor said. "You will choose an incantation that you learned this past year and write an essay about it. There will be no copying previous essays. Since it's not an incantation you're learning right now, that should provide you with a different outlook than before."

That was the end of the class, and Tony exchanged a look with Lysander. He wasn't so sure what to think of _this_ assignment. He hadn't written an awful lot of essays, so copying was rather impossible for him anyway.

"When do you want to work on it?" he asked Lysander as the latter made to leave the classroom.

"After dinner in the library?" he suggested.

"Sure," Tony replied. "Sounds fine to me." The assignment wasn't due until a week later, but he figured that Lysander wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. He couldn't help but agree.

During lunch later that day, Marly kept chattering to him about… everything. Tony smiled awkwardly. He was sure that he would like her a lot more if she would leave him be every now and then. Not that he would date her then, though.

"It's such a pity we can't work together for our Transfiguration essay!" she told him disappointedly.

"Yeah, I know, right?" he replied a little nervously.

"There will be other assignments though," she said, probably trying to cheer herself up. "We can work together the entire year long." Tony could hardly wait.

"Oh well," Flora said, turning towards the two of them, "at least you're working with Lorcan now. He does everything you ask him."

"Yes, that's true." Marly smiled to herself, glancing at Tony quickly. He pretended not to see it, but concentrated on his food instead. If she was trying to make him jealous, it wasn't working at all.

"Have they told you about the Scamander twins?" Whitney asked him, nodding towards the boys.

Tony blinked. "Who? No, I don't think they have."

"The Scamander twins," Flora repeated. She gestured towards the Ravenclaw table. "Lorcan and Lysander?"

"Oh, right," Tony said. He felt a little stupid for not realising the obvious link. They were the only twins in their year, after all.

"They're a little… odd," Clara told him. All the girls' attention was now on Tony, and he didn't like it one bit. "Apparently, their parents believe in all sorts of weird theories about the strangest creatures you'll ever hear about. None of those creatures exist, I think, but they believe in them."

"Aha," Tony commented. He didn't see how it concerned him that Lorcan and Lysander might be a little eccentric.

"They're normally nice enough," Whitney said, "but a little awkward. And I think you've already experienced firsthand what happens when Lorcan catches sight of Marly here."

Marly, who had, surprisingly, been silent for the past few minutes, groaned. "Don't remind me. I don't like him like that, but he won't stop bugging me."

Tony opened his mouth and closed it again immediately – perhaps he shouldn't say what he was about to say. Instead, he took a swig of pumpkin juice.

After lunch, there were two more classes; History of Magic and Charms. Not a word was said there about group assignments, and Tony wondered how many Professors actually were okay with the Headmistress' plan to introduce more of these in their classes.

He didn't mind too much, actually. He had enough to do as it was – eight different classes on NEWT-level wasn't a piece of cake. At least he managed to find his way through the castle on his own now. That didn't mean, though, that he knew the whole school inside out. He still had trouble finding some places, and if staircases decided to move, he was often hopelessly lost.

He hadn't had much time to eat at dinner, since he had left his books in his dorm when he had stopped by earlier. He had completely forgotten that he might still need them for the assignment. As he arrived in the library, slightly out of breath, he immediately noticed Lysander.

"Hey," he greeted him, and Lysander blinked a couple of times.

"Oh, hello. I didn't see you coming in." Lysander pulled a face and added, "It was probably the Wrackspurts. They love the library."

Tony just nodded, wondering what on earth a Wrackspurt was. Probably one of those odd creatures Lysander and his family believed in. They took a seat at an empty table, and Tony pulled out his book.

"So," he asked, "what do you want to write about?"

"We could write about the Vanishing Spell," Lysander offered almost immediately. Apparently, he had put some thought into this already.

"For Transfiguration?" Tony asked. "Isn't that something you learn in Charms?"

Lysander just stared at him for half a minute before replying, "We could write an essay about why it could also be interpreted as a spell for Transfiguration."

"We could do that," Tony said thoughtfully. "Yeah, let's do that. I haven't got a better idea anyway."

The rest of their evening was filled with finding books, reading them and writing the essay. When it was nearly curfew, they were done.

"I have to admit, I didn't expect this to go so smoothly," Lysander said as they stashed away the books they had used.

"Me neither," Tony replied, grinning to himself. Although they hadn't talked a lot, he had found out that it wasn't hard, working together with Lysander.

"My brother absolutely hates you," Lysander told him, but of course, Tony already knew this very well.

He told Lysander this and added, "But he has what he wants now, doesn't he? I mean, he's working together with Marly."

"Now, yes," Lysander admitted. "But who knows how long she'll tolerate him. He doesn't mean any harm, he's just a little obsessed."

"They'll figure something out," Tony said, not entirely convinced of this. "So, where is that Ravenclaw common room of yours?"

"That's top secret," Lysander said goofily. "Don't bother following me. I'll see you around."

Tony decided that it wouldn't be a good idea indeed to search for the other common rooms by night, so he just went back to the Gryffindor tower. Marly was complaining about Lorcan, as could have been expected, and the other seventh years were either listening and comforting her or doing something else.

Not quite knowing what to do with that situation, Tony just snuck past them (something he never would've been able to pull off if Marly hadn't been distracted) and went upstairs. Perhaps he'd make it into his bed before the others would come to the dorm as well.

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**A/N**: I'm very sorry it took me a while to update! :( Hopefully you still enjoyed the chapter, though. If you have any comments or questions or anything else, don't hesitate to leave a review! :)


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**: I'm sorry it took me so long to get this up :S Hopefully you'll still like the chapter :)

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A week later, Tony found himself sprinting across the grounds to make it to Herbology class on time. Slightly out of breath, he burst into the classroom. "Sorry I'm late," he told the Professor, before looking around the room. There wasn't much space left. In fact, the only spot left was in between Lorcan and Lysander.

Wondering why they didn't just sit right next to each other, Tony sat down and looked up at the Professor, who didn't scold him for his lateness. Fortunately. He had run as fast as he could.

"As I said before Mr Philips came barging in, the Headmistress has asked all the Professors to include more group projects in the curriculum. So today, that is exactly what you're going to do. You're going to work together in groups and at the end of class, I will have a look at the assignments."

Apparently, Tony had missed that part in which the main point of the class was explained. "What are we supposed to do?" he asked Lysander as quietly as he could.

"He didn't specify that yet," Lysander hissed back. Then; "Are you any good at Herbology?"

Tony shrugged. His parents had never had the opportunity to let him do a lot of practical work. "No idea," he whispered.

"Divide yourself in groups of three," Professor Longbottom instructed now. "Lorcan, Lysander – you'll have to split up as well."

Tony looked from one to the other and asked, "Why is he being so specific about that?"

"Because we'll mess up if we work together." To Tony's surprise, it was Lorcan who answered, shrugging.

"You do?" Tony asked. "Aren't Ravenclaws supposed to be super smart?"

The twins shrugged simultaneously. "Well, we like experimenting sometimes," was the only explanation Tony got. Lorcan then stood up to sit with two other people and Tony was, once again, left with Lysander.

"Looks like we're stuck together again," Tony commented, and Lysander nodded.

"We're just one group member short."

"Oh, that's great!" Both boys looked up and saw Marly standing there, with her books and everything. "I don't have a group yet!"

Tony shared a look with Lysander and then looked around at Lorcan, who looked shocked. "Okay," he said hesitantly. Hopefully Marly could save their assignment from going completely wrong.

She looked very happy as she sat down in the chair Lorcan just vacated. "So… let's get started," she said excitedly.

"With what?" Lysander asked, and only now did Marly seem to realise that he was there as well.

"Oh, Lysander…," she said, blinking. "Right, of course. We didn't get an assignment yet." She laughed. "Silly me."

Tony smiled awkwardly. He just wished she would take her hand off of his arm. Pretty soon, the Professor explained to them what they were supposed to do, and Marly was jumping up and down in her seat. They were to observe the… behaviour of certain plants in the greenhouse and answer questions about it.

The three of them crouched down next to a row of odd-looking plants and stared. "Alright," Marly broke the silence. "Let's fill out this questionnaire."

"Shouldn't we do that after we've observed these… things for a little while?" Tony asked, unsure of her method.

"Oh, there's no need," Marly said. "Look, all the answers to these questions are in the book as well."

"They are?" Tony was surprised to learn this. He hadn't got there yet, so that might be the problem.

"I think it's obvious once again why you're the Head Girl, Marly," Lysander said, smiling a little.

She smiled faintly at hearing this. "So you two don't know anything here?"

"If you'd let us watch the plant, perhaps we would," Lysander told her, staring at the plants intently. "Maybe something happens here that's not in the book?"

"No, that's highly unlikely," Marly told him, still eyeing Tony closely. "We might as well fill this in already."

"And then what?" Lysander asked, and Tony could see Marly becoming a little annoyed. "What are we going to do the remainder of the lesson?"

"I don't know, stare at the plant?" she offered in a mocking voice. "Perhaps the Professor will let us leave earlier."

"I wouldn't count on that, Ms Gardner," a voice came from behind. "You are, of course, allowed to use your book, but the point in this assignment is to learn to watch the plant in order to come to conclusions."

Marly reddened as Professor Longbottom told her off, and she quickly stared down at the parchment containing the questions. "Right, sorry, Professor," she mumbled. "We'll watch the plant then."

Lysander, Tony couldn't help but notice, grinned at this. While his twin brother might be alright with anything Marly suggested, Lysander didn't give in so easily. Maybe Marly forgot about that sometimes, since they looked quite a lot alike.

As Marly started staring at the plant, the Professor asked Lysander, "How are your parents doing, by the way?"

"They're quite fine, thank you," he replied cheerfully. "How's your wife?"

"She's doing great as well," the Professor replied. "And Erik is already excited for next year, too."

"Tell them we said hi," Lysander said, grinning. With that, he turned back to the plant.

At the end of the class, nothing odd had happened, and Marly just filled in the questions as she remembered the answers from the book. Neither Tony nor Lysander could be of much help with that.

While walking back to the castle, Tony tried to ignore Marly as she was very obviously trying to get his attention. He turned to Lysander instead and said, "I didn't know you knew Professor Longbottom personally."

Lysander shrugged. "Well, we do. He and my mum were friends at Hogwarts, and they still are friends."

Tony nodded, but Marly said, "Oh, isn't that just precious?" Lysander stared at her in wonder, but Tony rolled his eyes at her sarcastic tone.

"Yes, it's quite nice indeed," he told her, and at that moment, Lorcan caught up with them.

"What's nice?" he asked, looking at the other three in wonder.

"That mum and Neville are still such good friends," Lysander told him; Tony had to just assume that Neville must be the Professor's first name, then.

"Oh, that's nice indeed," Lorcan agreed, and now Marly rolled her eyes. "Have you spoken to Lily and Hugo yet, by the way? I haven't seen them around at all this year."

Lysander shook his head. "No, me neither. But we'll see them soon enough, I suppose. Or otherwise at Christmas."

Tony, not knowing at all who they were talking about, just trudged along with them, and so did Marly. They all were going back to the castle anyway.

Suddenly, Tony jumped. "What's wrong with you?" Lysander asked, frowning at him. Realising that he had grabbed Lysander's right arm in the process, Tony quickly let go.

"Sorry," he muttered, embarrassed. "I saw a spider, I think."

"You saw a spider," Lorcan repeated. "You're scared of spiders? Honestly?"

"Yes," Tony said, a little irritated that it seemed to mean so much to them. "I'm scared of spiders. What's it to you?"

"Marly, are you scared of spiders?" Lorcan asked, and Marly shook her head, her eyes fixed on Tony. "Seriously, Philips, who is scared of spiders nowadays?"

"Hugo," Lysander pointed out, and Lorcan rolled his eyes.

"Yes, well, Hugo has a reason for that."

"How are you so sure that I don't?" Tony asked, peeved now. "Why shouldn't I have a good reason for my fear?"

Lorcan raised his eyebrows expectantly. "Well, do you?"

"That's none of your business," Tony replied, a little haughtily.

"Oh, just drop the subject already," Marly sighed, and Lorcan gladly did so.

"What about the plant you had to observe?" he asked her eagerly. "Did they even help you at all?" He gestured towards Lysander and Tony as he asked this. Marly, not appearing too happy with having Lorcan's attention on her, kept the conversation going politely.

"Sorry I jumped you," Tony told Lysander. "Whenever I see a spider, I don't really think."

"That's quite alright," Lysander said. "Just don't do it again."

"If you make sure there are no spiders around whenever I'm in a five feet radius of you," Tony joked, but then he quickly shut up. They were in the Great Hall now anyway.

"So, how was Herbology?" Stan asked as Tony and Marly joined their group.

Marly sighed again. "It was awful. We had to work together with Lysander Scamander – Merlin, _what_ an idiot. Thinking he's just all that. And then he goes and sucks up to Longbottom a little more because of his precious mummy. Argh, I hate that kid."

As Clara patted her shoulder, Tony shrugged. "I think he's nice enough, actually."

"Nice enough?" Marly stared at him as if he'd gone nuts. Then she swallowed. "Alright, if you say so."

Of course, if he said so. Marly's attitude was seriously annoying him after a few weeks. She agreed on everything he said, much like Lorcan did whenever she said something. But she couldn't seem to notice the similarities between the situations.

That evening, before going to bed, Tony eyed himself in the mirror. He could honest to Merlin not see what Marly seemed to like so much about him. All the stress he'd had these past few weeks already (due to homework, and, of course, some other things) would be catching up with him soon. He already discovered a few zits and spots in his face already this morning; he could only hope that they would disappear soon.

Sitting down on his bed, he read the latest letter his parents had sent him. At least they hadn't forgotten all about him. He hastily scribbled a reply, telling them he was doing alright, that his classes were still very interesting and challenging, and that his classmates helped him feel at home here. After sending off the letter with the same owl that had brought his parents' letter, he opened his trunk and searched through it. At the bottom of his trunk, he found a small collection of earlier letters, also sent by his parents. After adding the new letter to it, he put the pile of letters back and closed his trunk again. Those letters contained very private information – if one of his dorm mates ever found them and read them, he didn't want to know what would happen.

* * *

**A/N**: So... any thoughts? Let me know what you think, please review!


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